California & Texas (San Marcos: mortgage, property taxes, smog)

[shannon94]

Texas is 20 years behind???? I don't see it. (I'm from California ...so I know what to compare.) What exactly are you talking about?

[Sorcerer68]

I'll preface this: I have relatives in Texas I love dearly and they are wonderful people. That said, I wouldn't live in Texas for any amount of money (now my Great Grandmother rolls over in her urn). I'm a city person and there really isn't a REAL city in Texas, just larger towns with tall buildings in the center. Houston is the closest but...no thanks.

[RudyOD]

I would choose California. I know that with 300,000 I won't find any decent home in a decent area, but I would use that money to get a more than decent condo in Signal Hills (as my aunt is doing right now), and save up for a house. My aunt has three school age children, and they all go to great schools. She's recently divorced so she's cutting it on her own and doing fine, she owns a beauty salon in Bixby Knolls, so she's also a small business owner. I think she makes around 50-60,000 a year.

Yes, houses are outrageously high, but an even bigger issue is Americans unwillingness to SAVE and our ENDLESS spending. So most Americans are in debt to begin with, making it even more difficult to pay mortgage as well as all the other debts that have accumulated.

Either way, I wouldn't possibly be able to abandon California, because it would mean that I would have to abandon my style of living. I love the beach and go there endlessly, but I also love a nice day's hike. I live in Orange County and have access to both within less than an hours drive. If you really wanted to, you could go snowboarding/skiing/hiking in the morning and then head down to the coast for a nice picnic at the beach or a bonfire w/ friends.

The Sierras are beautiful and so is the Pacific Coast, especially in Laguna beach (which is far away enough from LA and Long Beach so that you can have beautiful starlight.) When it comes to nature, California's diversity is unbeatable. We have the tallest trees, the oldest trees, and the biggest trees. We have the highest peaks in continental United States, and we also have the lowest points below sea level (death valley). The redwoods are truly amazing. If you've never driven all of Pacific Coast Highway from socal to norcal, you haven't really experienced the beauty and grandeur of our coast. I love sunsets.

Another thing, I am vegan. I live on pilafs, hummus, and pita bread (Arabic-mediterranean) and spicy curries (Indian). Then there's my vegie teriyaki bowls, my avocado teri burgers, and California rolls (all a Californian twist on Japanese cuisine). I definitely can't live without my boba + cha (tapioca balls with tea) which has been imported by the Chinese/Taiwanese communities (THANK YOU). Avocado, Avocado, Avocado. Plus I always have either a Trader Joes, a Wild Oats, or a Henry's Farmers, nearby. All this grocerie stores have local and organic produce.

I'm never really bored here...and if I am, it isn't from lack of things to do and more from lazyness (haha). I have Knotts Berry Farms, Soak City USA, Wild Rivers, Disneyland, and Disney's California Adventure within 20 minutes drive...some within 10 minutes. Six Flags Magic mountain, Hurricane Harbour, and Universal Studios are within an hours drive (though, unfortunately, Six Flags will be closing within two years). Legoland and Seaworld are an 1 and 30 minutes from me in San Diego. Those are the attractions with the big price tags of course. When we are broke, me and my friends go karaoke, bowling (there are endless bowling alleys it seems), purikura (like photo booths but MUCH more fun, since you can edit and draw on your pictures on the spot...we spend countless hours doing this). There's always boogie boarding since most of us can't surf. My cousins go dirt riding and mountain biking all the time. Of course, there's always the malls...South Coast Plaza (Costa Mesa), the Irvine Spectrum, the Block (Orange), the Pike (Long Beach), and Fashion Island (Newport Beach) are just some of the more widely known ones.

A lot of people complain about the high cost of living, but, honestly, you can do a lot with a little. I know because I've had to teach myself as a college student. A lot of museums have days when they dont charge families and have plenty of family activities. My friends and I love to go the first saturday matinee showing of plays at the South Coast Repertory. Usually shows cost around $60 dollars, but if you go on the first saturday matinee, then its basically pay as you wish ($5, $7..etc). There's always plenty of concerts with great local bands...so if you're into the rock scene (like I am) then California is awesome. There are swapmeets all over the place where you can always find interesting stuff, some you should stay away from, but a lot of nice genuine stuff, antiques, plants...etc. My mom loves going to the Cypress swapmeet 'cause she always finds a variety of cacti and tropical plants that she uses for her garden. My sister loves shopping at Abercombie & Fitch, Hollister, and American Eagle...and she always finds new clothing from the stores at swapmeets. You can also get a lot of those brands, along w/ Quicksilver and Roxy, for wholesale and factory prices since a lot of them have their companies nearby and have certain days where you can go directly to the company and buy things for as cheap as 5 dollars. It's an easy way for the companies to get rid of previous seasons stuff. Oh yeah, theme parks always have special discount prices for locals. We always find ways to get into Knotts Berry Farms for as low 15 bucks. They also have days where you buy a new toy to donate and they let you into the park for free. Though it doesn't help out that much...since most of my friends have season passes anyways.

You don't need to be rich to live WELL in California, you just need to be smart about it.

[JJG]

Originally Posted by Sorcerer68

I'll preface this: I have relatives in Texas I love dearly and they are wonderful people. That said, I wouldn't live in Texas for any amount of money (now my Great Grandmother rolls over in her urn). I'm a city person and there really isn't a REAL city in Texas, just larger towns with tall buildings in the center. Houston is the closest but...no thanks.

What do you mean by "real city"? Because we do have real cities...it's just that that alot of them aren't crime infested and air is cleaner...somewhat.

Dallas and Houston feel like cities because those cities don't have a suburban feel to them like Austin, San Antonio, and Fort Worth. The other cities in this state have a very small town feel, but they all have a population of over 600,000 (except maybe El Paso).
Gotta say... I'm real supprised you think Dallas isn't a real city. That's a first.

[jbear182]

Make that a second. According to 2005 crime rates of cities with a population > 250,000 both Dallas and Houston rank worse than any city in California. I don't consider any city in Texas among the great U.S. cities such as NYC, Chicago, San Fran, Seattle and Boston.

[Dingler]

I would pick Texas because the people are alot nicer.

The reason the costs are lower in TX is the land to develop goes on forever. In SFO and LA they are running out of land.

[JJG]

Originally Posted by jbear182

Make that a second. According to 2005 crime rates of cities with a population > 250,000 both Dallas and Houston rank worse than any city in California. I don't consider any city in Texas among the great U.S. cities such as NYC, Chicago, San Fran, Seattle and Boston.

Dallas and Houston are really the only bad Texas cities (and maybe El Paso, but very few people here care about that city. Just tellin' the truth...).

I'd rank the three Texas cities that I mentioned right their with those cities.

[socketz]

Let's also define 'Dallas'.

Most of the nicer places people call 'Dallas' are actually 20 miles north of Dallas. I personally would not live in Dallas, but put me in any of the nice suburbs to the north: Copell, Colleyville, Southlake, Flower Mound, Mckinney, Frisco, Plano, Allen, etc. and I'd be happy.

These suburbs are on par with the best burbs you'd find in Socal. Great schools, almost 0 crime, well educated people, gorgeous homes and VERY family oriented.

Combine this with extremely mild winters, genuinely friendly people, 80-100 dollar per square foot homes and one of the best job markets in the US - and you have something worth considering.

However, the Summers are hot and there are no beaches worth visiting (people there typically go to Florida or MX, but they have alot more disposable income vs. CA), so keep in mind that there are a few trade-offs.

Seriously, after living in Socal for 15 years and recently moving to Dallas (Northern Burbs), I can safely say that it is one of the most undermarketed/misunderstood regions in the continental US. All that is changing though as Californians are moving here in droves (7 of 10 people on my block are from CA).

Also...someone said UT. Be careful with UT. Sure, it's a gorgeous place, even prettier than CA in my opinion, but sooner or later there you will be asked to take 'the little blue pill'....don't kid yourself, the culture there is defined by the LDS church.

[jbear182]

Austin or San Antonio are both fine cities but hardly the caliber of the cities I mentioned. Fort Worth is monstrosity of blandness.

[AK123]

Originally Posted by jbear182

Austin or San Antonio are both fine cities but hardly the caliber of the cities I mentioned. Fort Worth is monstrosity of blandness.

True. They're nice places, but...

The only one to come really close might be Houston. It's the 4th largest city after Chicago (Dallas is larger in the metro area than Houston... but that just tells you much of the population is in the suburb cities, not Dallas itself). Only NYC has more Fortune 500 companies, and Houston's theatre district is also
2nd largest in the country after NYC. Houston has one of the nation's largest ports (1st or 2nd in foreign tonnage), the world's largest grouping of hospitals and medical research facilities (many of them top-notch), and only two other U.S. cities have more foreign consulates... so it's an international city as well. World-class culture/museums, fabulous restaurants.... I could go on. Really, most people have NO idea. And many of us try to keep it that way because we don't want everyone in the world moving here once they find out. Houston is very underrated and most people only hear about the negatives (which are usually exaggerated or wrong).